Laura,

"Trying to buy his way into heaven WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY. The worthless bastard."

What these faith based organizations are doing with that money is far more honest and virtuous than politicians using other people's money to buy votes.

Receives assistance...

You think these organizations that put faith as their core are only going to assist other people of faith?

I think anyone who receives won't care.

Red,

Come on...poor Wierd Al is a victim, not progressive.

He's terrified of the cancel culture getting him.

Zed,

"We have this one poster who argues I should be terrified of Islam as a threat to Western Civilization."

Right now, atheists and Muslims may not see themselves as being in direct conflict. In Western politics, they may find themselves on the same side in opposition to traditional Christian and Jewish influence.

Just wait.

I think that alliance will become much harder to maintain as Islamic influence grows in Western institutions and communities.

How will atheist parents react if their children start coming home from school praising Islamic beliefs or bringing Islamic religious practices into their homes?

Think that can't happen?

At present, Islam is often far more assertive than modern Christianity about maintaining visible religious practices and seeking accommodations for them in public life.

Some of the people who currently regard Christianity as the greater religious threat, may eventually find themselves confronting a religious culture whose expectations are considerably less compatible and more objectionable to their own secular beliefs. Muslim values are stricter than what they are accustomed to.

Also, Christianity in America generally does not require public rituals performed several times a day that can affect everyone around them. Islam has practices that many Muslims regard as religious obligations, and American religious freedom laws can require governments and institutions to make reasonable accommodations for those practices.

Right now, secular people may be saying, "Why should I worry?"

Some of the same secular people who strongly defend Islamic religious accommodations today may eventually conclude that what they regarded as harmless accommodations was a Trojan horse.

This is sad....

I'm offended by the word wierd.

He should change his name.

Alex,

"But it's okay when Trump pleads the Fifth after saying only guilty people do that."

I never said Trump was innocent. I suspect he's guilty of all sorts of things that were never proven in court.

But what does Trump have to do with whether Fauci has something to answer for?

So why did I vote for Trump, you might ask?

Voting for someone doesn't mean I believe he's innocent of everything or approve of everything he's done.

It means I preferred him to the alternative, which I believed was worse.

Who knows where all of this today will end up.

Regardless, I had a pretty good idea what I believed the alternative would have done to America, and so I voted accordingly.

Alex,

"But it's okay when Trump pleads the Fifth after saying only guilty people do that."

Who is saying Fauci isn't guilty of anything?

I can certainly understand why he chose to plead the Fifth.

Zed,

"We have this one poster who argues I should be terrified of Islam as a threat to Western Civilization."

Why would anyone say such a thing?

One,

"This is just them trying to make you feel guilty."

I see it more as a means of controlling people.

You said, "Nerf is just showing his hypocrisy"he hates one religion and has no issue with the other."

Did you see my earlier post where I said I believe much of what we're seeing today is part of a spiritual war?

From that perspective, there is a simple explanation for why some liberals may react strongly to Christian beliefs and rituals while seeming far less bothered by those of other religions.

I believe Christianity can provoke a spiritual discomfort that other religions do not. If Christianity is genuinely a true religion from a real God, then it makes sense to me that it would produce a different reaction (fear) in people who are spiritually opposed to it even if they don't consciously understand why. And other religions don't generate that same reaction.

Dan,

"Church Bells were 5-6 times a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year."

You don't know anywhere that's doing that.

Nerf,

The call to prayer isn't scary.

Actually as music goes it's not that bad.

Just wouldn't want to hear it over and over.

One,

You are being forced to hear their call to prayer chat?

One,

It's for show.

Jesus said not to make a performance out of prayer.

Ironic that Muslims do exactly that.

Truth,

"What is the virtue of inflicting your mythological beliefs on me and my loved ones?"

Where is anyone inflicting anything on you or your loved ones?

That seems to be the standard response, as though somewhere in your daily life someone is forcing you to believe something.

If you read something that offends you, stop reading it.

If something on TV offends you, change the channel.

If someone is in your home pushing beliefs on you, tell them to leave.

If you're in someone else's home and don't like what you're hearing, you can get up and leave.

So where, exactly, is anyone forcing religious beliefs or "virtuous living" on you against your will?

Laura,

"As if you're going somewhere. We couldn't be so lucky."

If my posts bother you that much, don't read them. No one is forcing you to.

Dan,

If you are referring to the accusation made under the name "Katie Johnson," it was never substantiated.

My statement was that conservative Christians generally regard liberalism as morally wrong and lacking in virtue. That point has nothing to do with Trump.

Responding with "But Trump" does not address my comment. It is a lazy deflection, and invoking an unrelated, unsubstantiated accusation does nothing to disprove what I said about how conservative Christians view liberalism.

Unless you have something meaningful to add that actually addresses what I said, there is nothing further to discuss.

Go ahead and post something inane or one of your usual lies so you can have the last word.

Don't bother looking for a reply from me.

Goodbye all.

Alex,

There is one more point I feel I should mention.

Much of what is happening is confusing and does not seem to make sense. Why are people so determined to hold the line, even to the point of being willing to fight to the death?

I believe there is more going on than what we can see on the surface. I believe a spiritual war is taking place, with people being used as game pieces in a larger struggle, often without even realizing the role they are playing.

It is a struggle between good and evil.

Good will be called evil.

Evil will be called good.

Alex,

My earlier post,

"You liberals keep playing with fire, and sooner or later, you're going to get burned or thrown from a rooftop by the very people you defended."

...was meant metaphorically, not literally.

I did not mean that liberals are literally playing with fire. "Playing with fire" was a figure of speech describing what I see as the dangers of certain political alliances.

Likewise, "thrown from a rooftop" was intentionally disturbing imagery representing the severe consequences that could eventually come from aligning with people whose values may be fundamentally hostile to liberalism.

Many conservative Christians in America regard liberalism as immoral and lacking in virtue. I suspect a significant number of conservative Muslims hold a similarly strong distaste for liberal values. At some point in the distant future, those conflicting values could lead to serious political and social conflict between liberals and Muslims who hold such views.

Whether my concern is justified is something you will have to judge for yourself over time.

Alex,

"You literally referenced Muslims tossing gay men off rooftops."

I was making a broader point. I was not suggesting that Muslims in America are going to start throwing gay people from rooftops.

My concern is that as some Muslim communities grow larger and gain greater political influence, they may begin seeking broader, and sometimes more intrusive, religious accommodations from the surrounding community. That has been an observed trend over the years in some parts of the United States.

Because those requests are presented as part of the free exercise of religion, government officials may find them difficult to restrict without raising constitutional or discrimination concerns.

That is why immigration and assimilation matter. Muslim immigrants, like everyone else who comes to America, should see themselves as part of the larger American community and not solely as members of a religious group. Living in a diverse country requires compromise. Religious freedom protects the right to worship, but it should not mean reshaping an entire community around one religion's practices.

In other words, many liberals seem more willing to accommodate Muslim religious practices that intrude upon others than they have been to accommodate comparable public Christian practices. That double standard may eventually come back to bite them.

Nerf,

I taught at the college level for a few years.

One thing I always said was if you're going to criticize something, you should also propose a workable solution that can be discussed.

Dan,

"That's because job hours, including some holidays, have Christian roots. Sundays off, anyone?"

Are these special privileges for Christians only?

Nerf,

I'm always interested in hearing or reading proposed workable solutions.

I see you have none.

You're just a pointer-outer.

You can't go against the Constitution, which is what it sounds like you're proposing.

Alex,

"You're a bigot, Bill"a bigot who blames an American Muslim, Abdul El-Sayed, for what Muslims in other countries do."

I'm not blaming American Muslims for what Muslims in other countries do. I'm going by what I have seen here in the United States.

My wife worked at a retail store that hired a Muslim manager who expected a private room for prayer and the freedom to stop working at designated times to pray.

Personally, I think that goes beyond reasonable accommodation. Freedom of religion should protect a person's right to believe and practice their faith, but it should not automatically entitle anyone to special privileges or the right to disrupt the workplace.

Christians have long been expected to practice their faith without interfering with their job responsibilities. Why should a different standard apply to Muslims?

Criticizing unequal treatment is not bigotry.